Beyond
Believing:
Receiving and Practicing the Revelation of the Divineby
Chris Tong, Ph.D.

A
recent Gallup poll reported that 86% of all American adults believed
in God. "Belief in God" is the primary way many of us
describe our relationship to the Greater Reality. But why settle
for just believing in God, when the tangible, ego-shattering experience
of God would revolutionize your life? How "religion" became equated
with "belief in God". The restoration of "re-ligio", the means for
genuinely "re-connecting" with God.

The
impulse to change springs out of dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
But what change is actually possible? And what bearing do approaches
for change actually have on our happiness? In this book we will
examine a variety of approaches to transformation, from Sigmund
Freud’s psychotherapy, to Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits”, to the self-transcending
God-Realization of the great Spiritual Masters.

Perfect
Happiness is possible through Spiritual Awakening from the
dream of ordinary life. We provide a picture of the Spiritual practice
for Waking Up, in the form of seven habits that serve to free up
energy and attention from the dream so that the Awakened State can
be discovered. The
key to the practice is the Spiritual Master, who is the “guise”
taken by the Awakened State in the dream, and who transmits the
Morning Light into the dream to Wake us Up.

Transcending
Life and Death in God, Part 1:You CAN'T Take It With You
by Chris
Tong, Ph.D.

Does your
life have a purpose? If so, is it one that isn't going to get
instantly ripped off when you die? Many of us spend our lives
denying death, allowing ourselves to be completely consumed and
distracted by our responsibilities, our indulgences, and our search
for things we cannot take with us after death in any overt form
(knowledge, accomplishment, fame, or friendship). But death is
still coming. We get little support from culture, society, biology,
or even conventional religion for becoming adequately prepared;
indeed, we are actively discouraged from even considering the
matter. In Western society, the “dying business” at best tends
to help us come to the point of acceptance of death (when in fact
we should already be accepting death right now, leaving us sufficient
time to prepare for what comes after). And the “death business”
tends to assist the living go on living rather than assist the
dead in their transition, as more informed cultures do. This book
sensitizes us to our mortality, and encourages us to start preparing
now.

(What does
come after? See Book 5: You WILL Take It With You for
the second part of this consideration.)

Transcending
Life and Death in God, Part 2:You WILL Take It With You
by Chris
Tong, Ph.D.

What will
occur after we die? This question can be answered, on the
basis of a large body of reports across the centuries — on near-death
experiences, after-life experiences, reincarnation experiences,
paranormal phenomena, and the direct awareness of Spiritual Masters
 as well as by studying the laws of the psyche as we observe
it in life, to predict its destiny after death. The report is
not all roses, though. In fact, its conclusion is that there is
life after death, and re-birth, but it is also likely that we
are going to suffer greatly during the period between lives, unless
we develop, during our lifetime, a powerful Spiritual practice
that truly links up with God.

Transcending
Life and Death in God, Part 3:You CAN Take It With You
by Chris
Tong, Ph.D.

True wisdom
takes into account while we are still alive both our mortality
and what we are likely to carry with us after death (and the destiny
that creates), and uses the course of a lifetime proactively,
for the purpose of self-understanding, communion with That which
is beyond life and death, and, ultimately, Awakening completely
from the dream of life and death. We'll examine three of the key
"problems" that will face us in the after-life 
psychic attractors, psychic bullies, and the unrecognizability
of Reality  and describe the Spiritual practice capable
of dealing with them, not only after death, but in every moment
of living.

We consider
two tendencies that we inherit simply by virtue of living in Western
culture  “spiritual correctness” and “spiritual anti-authoritarianism”
 and we come to understand the liabilities they represent,
relative to our own Spiritual happiness and liberation.

Spiritual
correctness says: "all paths to the Divine or ultimate liberation
are equal"; and anyone who suggests otherwise risks seriously
offending or insulting whomever they are speaking with. But just
as everybody knows that not all telescopes are created equal,
not all religious means for tangibly linking up with the Divine
are equally powerful, reliable, or revelatory. To find the means
that will actually most benefit us Spiritually amidst the myriad
of possibilities available, requires great discrimination.

Spiritual
anti-authoritarianism began with the Protestant Reformation,
in righteous reaction to the corruption of the Catholic Church
(at the time, the exchange of money for a "reduced sentence"
in purgatory). But this reaction too can be carried too far. We
are all indeed equal in Spiritual “rights”, that is, in our Spiritual
potential. But that does not mean we are all equal in our Spiritual
Realization. And vive la difference! Thank God not everyone is
equally Spiritually blind, and that the Spiritually Sighted are
in a position to help the rest of us.

Appreciating
the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and
Revelations, Part 2:
Three Views of Reality and Human Potentialby Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Taken together,
all the great wisdom traditions around the world and throughout
history offer a wide variety of views on (and experiences of)
the nature of the Greater Reality and human potential
in the context of the Greater Reality. In this book, we make sense
of and compare the differing views. We place particular emphasis
on the views of materialism, esoteric spirituality, and exoteric
religion.

Materialism,
the view that what you see (or hear, or touch, or taste, or smell)
is what you get (or all that is real), is seen to have many limitations,
including its tendency to insist on reducing everything to merely
materialistic terms; and its inability to adequately account (in
merely materialistic terms) for human consciousness, and hence,
human death.

Esoteric
spirituality deepens human potential by acknowledging the
Greater Reality, and providing the means for experientially embracing
It. We briefly touch on four different dimensions of the greater
Reality  animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental,
and Divine  and we will elaborate upon these dimensions,
their Realization, and the means for Realizing them, in Books
9, 10, and 11.

Exoteric
religion is understood to derive from an originally esoteric
source (such as a great Spiritual Master or a shaman). The practitioner
of a legitimate exoteric religion  one that is still
in touch with its esoteric roots  engages disciplines aimed
at bringing him or her to full human maturity, in preparation
for taking up the esoteric practices of his or her tradition.
When an exoteric religion loses touch with its esoteric roots
(e.g., by being re-shaped for the sake of political
and social survival), it can devolve into an illegitimate exoteric
religion that still may be socially and politically influential,
but is spiritually bankrupt.

Appreciating
the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and Revelations, Part
3:
The Sacred Earth  Realization of the Magical, Psycho-Physical
Dimensionsby
Chris Tong, Ph.D.

In
Book 8, we
identified four different dimensions of the Greater Reality: animistic
/ psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

In
the animistic / psycho-physical experience (aspects of
which are shared by shamans, medicine men, and psychics),
it is obvious that we arise as a psycho-physical being within
Nature, which has not only a “body” (the “objective reality” of
the materialists) but also a “soul”, or psyche. This Sacred Earth
is a seamless, psychic unity, populated by all manner of etheric
and psychic forces and entities beyond the merely physical, with
which we are intimately inter-connected (in a way that is not
discernable from the purely materialistic view) and to which we
can learn to be rightly, magically related (and, in so doing,
allow the Sacred Earth to be revelatory, even a bridge to God).

We
conclude by studying the limitations of the purely animistic /
psycho-physical view, relative to the ultimate human potential
of Complete Awakening from the dream of changes (in both its material
and greater-than-material aspects). We lay out which developments
in the etheric and lower astral dimensions of our
being are necessary and useful for supporting and quickening our
Complete Awakening.

Appreciating
the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and Revelations, Part
4: Heaven  Realization of
the Spiritual Dimensionsby
Chris Tong, Ph.D.

In Book 8, we identified four different dimensions of
the Greater Reality: animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental,
and Divine.

In this book,
we study those dimensions associated with the Spiritual view,
along with the practices for Realizing these dimensions, and the
egoic obstacles that must be transcended. We base our study on
the understanding that we, ourselves, are a multi-dimensional
composite of elements from these different dimensions (matter,
spirit, and Consciousness). In the Spiritual view and Realization,
it is obvious that we arise as a “spirit” within the all-pervading
Divine Spirit, that we are always a part of God.

In
Book 8, we
identified four different dimensions of the Greater Reality: animistic
/ psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

In
this book, we study those dimensions associated with the Transcendental
and Divine views, along with the practices for Realizing these
dimensions, and the egoic obstacles that must be transcended.
We base our study on the understanding that we, ourselves, are
a multi-dimensional composite of elements from these different
dimensions (matter, spirit, and Consciousness). In the Transcendental
view and Realization, it is obvious that we arise as a conditional
being, along with all of conditional reality, in an Unconditional,
Transcendental Reality. In some traditions, the Transcendental
Reality is also a personal, Transcendental Consciousness, which
is obviously our own True Self. In the Divine view and Realization,
it is obvious that everything arises within a Divine Being Who
is simultaneously all-pervading Spirit and Transcendental Consciousness;
it is directly obvious that we are That One, and that everything
is merely a modification of That Consciousness.

coming
February,
2003

How
to Read a SPIRITUAL Book:
The Balanced Use of Discrimination, Open Heart, and Spiritual
Authorityby
Chris Tong, Ph.D.

To
read spiritual literature with receptivity and discrimination
requires us to understand several things:

how
the spiritual experience of saints, yogis, and other Realizers
relates to Reality Itself;

who
the genuine Spiritual Authorities are that can establish the
"ground rules" by which we can rightly understand
and appreciate spiritual literature;

the
Spiritual Realization of the people and phenomena being described;

the
ground rules under which the authors write (e.g., hagiographers,
scriptural deconstructionists, and New Age authors, will have
completely different intentions, and will describe the same
subject matter in completely different ways, and draw completely
different conclusions from the same sources);

the
social and political forces that may have influenced or altered
the source over time;

how
to read with spiritual receptivity, rather than the usual,
merely conventional, skeptical mind that unwittingly robs
one of spiritual opportunity.

coming
October,
2002

The
"TABOO AGAINST SPIRITUAL MASTERS" Series

The
Taboo Against Spiritual Masters,
Part 1:
How to Construct a Tabloid Expose on Jesus Christby Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Crucified.
Poisoned. Burnt alive. The reasons why the greatest beings who
have ever lived  who have offered the greatest hope for
human kind  have invariably been denied and persecuted.
Why Jesus, were He to appear again today, would be crucified not
by wood and nails, but by indifference, scandals, and litigation.
Why discrimination against minority religions continues to be
tolerated, even indulged, long after the women's suffrage and
black civil rights movements have made discrimination in those
particular areas "politically incorrect".

coming
April,
2003

The
Taboo Against Spiritual Masters,
Part 2:
Where Prejudice Still Runs Uncheckedby Chris Tong, Ph.D.

In
the twentieth century, much progress was made against several
longstanding forms of discrimination. Despite the need for even
further progress, such groups as women, men and women of color,
homosexuals, and the handicapped, have all made inroads in our
society, sensitizing it to, and educating it about, many varieties
of prejudice, both overt and subtle. But in one area 
discrimination against religious minorities and their founders
 the attitudes of our society are still extremely backward
and prejudicial. Button words like "cult" and "cult
leader" and knee-jerk associations with "brainwashing"
and "exploitation" are used in all the media with
the much the same abandon and insensitivity as "nigger"
was used before the civil rights movement. We chronicle
the long history of persecution throughout the ages of religious
minorities and their founders (including the persecution of
Christianity in its infancy, leading to the deaths of Jesus
and many of his disciples), and examine the origins of (and
the motivations behind) such persection. We propose five stages
in the fight against intolerance of religious minorities, based
on the successes achieved to date by the movements for civil
rights, women's rights, gay rights, and so forth. We argue that
it is spiritually essential for organizations and social movements
such as FIRM (The
Foundation against Intolerance of Religious Minorities)
to succeed in their purpose.

coming
June,
2003

Primary
Obstacles to Spiritual Growthby
Chris Tong, Ph.D.

True
spiritual life has always been a challenge: there have never been
large numbers of genuine saints, yogis, or holy men and women
in any given age of the world. But while some obstacles to spiritual
practice have remained constant throughout the ages, others are
unique to our own age. In some sense, we are born with three strikes
against us (more, in fact). Significant spiritual growth can occur
only when we have understood and transcended all the primary obstacles,
whether they are set by culture, society, biology, or even conventional
religion.